I finally started English Tales of Hearts R. I wasn't mistaken, this game is definitely better than Xillia. It's formulaic, but I'm enjoying it way more than Xillia, which felt painfully perfunctory and rushed.

Also played some Graces F for the first time, and I like that, too. I hear the cast is awful, but I'll be damned if the area design isn't more interesting than Xillia.

Basically I really don't like Xillia.

I liked Hearts for its cast, but I still found it a pretty lazy port; the return to generic 3D battle system is a bit of a shame. I've said it before, but I think ToH had more going for it as a NDS game than it did as a more "advanced" Vita game. Still, good for a roll around, and it definitely "felt better" than whatever the fuck went on in Xillia, a series I feel a ton of hate (but still just a wee lil' smidgen of 'love' for... mostly in the form of Alvin and Leia).

Oh, and talk to the animals. Talk to all the animals. They're pretty funny.

And Taelus, for real, just about *anything* has a better layout design than Xillia. That poor excuse for a 'world map' was even worse to travel through than FF13's ultra-linear corridor gaming since at least the sights changed. But I think I've said enough about why I've really disliked Xillia over the years.

Yeah, they need to split up again. Ever since Xillia they wanted to put everything into every single Tales games. It was a neat idea for Xillia, but they've never actually managed to combine it all due to time restraints.

As for Hideo Baba, I think he has some good ideas but he never seems to make them a reality. Bit too ambitious, maybe. That said, I really appreciate his effort to connect with European (and American?) fans. The events are fun, we get some exclusive tidbits, there's plenty of time for Q&A, and he plays rock-paper-scissors with the audience. And it's not just regular PR, I get the idea that he does actually listen to what fans have to say.

(Oh, but you know what Baba-san is terrible at? Remembering faces. Last year I talked to him/sat right in front of his face multiple times before sitting down for an interview on Sunday. He did not seem to remember me. Granted, I did wear a different shirt/tunic each day (first green, then purple and finally something with red and orange) and I had my hair in a ponytail once, but I'm still forced to conclude that the whole traitor thing you see in half of the games must be very realistic in his eyes.

On the other hand, he did remember by Asian coworker a year later, so... I dunno.)

This might sound kind of bad, but if you aren't usually exposed to people of a certain phenotype, it can be really hard to tell them apart. It's the bad joke about all Asians looking alike, but it actually works in other directions too.

(for about an hour before leaving to get replaced by generic anime swordsman #84073 :V ).Edit: Bonus points for making said female MC look like she's just coming back from a visit to the Senran Kagura-verse that went south for her. At least she isn't purposefully dressing like a striper this time.

Tales of Berseria, surprisingly, will feature a female main protagonist. The character's name is Velvet ( ベルベット, berubetto) and will be voiced by Rina Satou. Ms. Satou also made an appearance at the event and expressed that she actually auditioned for the role. Her quote reads "I will not give up. No matter how many times they try, I'll devour them."

The main character designer for Velvet is Mutsumi Inomata. Velvet is apparently a female pirate, and themes of pirates and ships were shown during the short scenery video they played at the event.

No background information on Velvet or the game was given, as they said it is not yet time to give out said info. ufotable will be in charge of the animated cutscenes.

PIRATES! FEMALE LEAD! UFO! VELEVET ROOM! DUAL RELEASE PS3/4VA is the same woman who did Presa from Xillia and that chick from one of my old avatars.

Tales of Berseria, surprisingly, will feature a female main protagonist. The character's name is Velvet ( ベルベット, berubetto) and will be voiced by Rina Satou. Ms. Satou also made an appearance at the event and expressed that she actually auditioned for the role. Her quote reads "I will not give up. No matter how many times they try, I'll devour them."

The main character designer for Velvet is Mutsumi Inomata. Velvet is apparently a female pirate, and themes of pirates and ships were shown during the short scenery video they played at the event.

No background information on Velvet or the game was given, as they said it is not yet time to give out said info. ufotable will be in charge of the animated cutscenes.

PIRATES! FEMALE LEAD! UFO! VELEVET ROOM! DUAL RELEASE PS3/4VA is the same woman who did Presa from Xillia and that chick from one of my old avatars.

I'm seriooously and pleasantly surprised no Zesty 2 [yet].

Quote

Her quote reads "I will not give up. No matter how many times they try, I'll devour them."

Velvet is apparently a female pirate, and themes of pirates and ships were shown during the short scenery video they played at the event.

Oh. So she's apparently a fan of dining live Calamari (of the Kraken variety). Yo ho ho and a bottle of Tentacle Grape. :V

Well like Aeolus mentioned I think Velvet's outfit just looks...weird. Of course maybe that's because all I'm seeing are some low-quality pictures taken from god knows how far away.

Dice mentioned in the other thread how she's hoping the game will bring back the adventure from Vespiria, but that's something I can't comment on much because that's actually the last one I played through, heh. Well, I played a bit of Hearts but I never finished it. I'm really bad at finishing games.

Well like Aeolus mentioned I think Velvet's outfit just looks...weird. Of course maybe that's because all I'm seeing are some low-quality pictures taken from god knows how far away.

Dice mentioned in the other thread how she's hoping the game will bring back the adventure from Vespiria, but that's something I can't comment on much because that's actually the last one I played through, heh. Well, I played a bit of Hearts but I never finished it. I'm really bad at finishing games.

also I can't believe Vespiria was already 7 years ago, what

TBF, there's not much to look at.

That said, I recall Xillia 1 being nothing but obvious Box Canyons, Xillia 2 being nothing but obviously rehashed Box Canyons and Zesty was apparently Open World, but in a way that made XBC look next gen. Basically, I think Dice is referring to how the environments from the last couple of games looked fucking barren and we could use a game with an actual excuse to look barren as fuck a couple of nice looking islands.

Also, I for one, welcome a Cutlass using generic anime swords(wo)man. Bonus points if she offhands a flintlock pistol.

I finally started English Tales of Hearts R. I wasn't mistaken, this game is definitely better than Xillia. It's formulaic, but I'm enjoying it way more than Xillia, which felt painfully perfunctory and rushed.

I've just started it too. Enjoying it so far. Especially the dialog. In the first 10 minutes, there's been "Oi you, rapscalliion!" as well as "Don't forget your blankie, or whatever it is you need." both being said to Kor.

I think I might have said this before, although can't remember if I said it on this forum or elsewhere, but it actually feels like they've gone backwards in terms of their art design. Especially with the environments and world design, I think both Tales of Symphonia and Tales of The Abyss look better than Tales of Hearts R.

I finally started English Tales of Hearts R. I wasn't mistaken, this game is definitely better than Xillia. It's formulaic, but I'm enjoying it way more than Xillia, which felt painfully perfunctory and rushed.

I've just started it too. Enjoying it so far. Especially the dialog. In the first 10 minutes, there's been "Oi you, rapscalliion!" as well as "Don't forget your blankie, or whatever it is you need." both being said to Kor.

I think I might have said this before, although can't remember if I said it on this forum or elsewhere, but it actually feels like they've gone backwards in terms of their art design. Especially with the environments and world design, I think both Tales of Symphonia and Tales of The Abyss look better than Tales of Hearts R.

Given that the latter was a remake of a DS game, I'm not surprised (for reference, the N64 could've outperformed the DS).